England's second-highest run scorer across all three forms of the game, Pietersen won four Ashes series and hit 8181 runs in 104 Tests.

He briefly captained England and was man of the tournament as England won the World T20 title in 2010.

His international career ended acrimoniously, never playing for England again after a high-profile falling out after the Ashes whitewash of 2013/14.

Well done @KP24 on an fantastic career ... Not everyone's Cup of Tea but you will do for me ... Best Batsman I had the pleasure to play with ... 1st England batsman that put fear into the Aussies .. #WellDone," former skipper Michael Vaughan tweeted.

"Well done Kidda what a career," former England paceman Darren Gough wrote in tweet, while the England and Wales Cricket Board simply tweeted: 'Thank you @KP24!'

Pietersen responded on Instagram by saying: "Thank you for all the quite lovely msgs! I loved entertaining you all! Ciao, cricket! I love this game!"